


You Are a Mord-Sith

by lexus_grey



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: Agiels, F/F, Kahlan as a Mord-Sith, Punishment, Spanking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 03:46:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4044673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lexus_grey/pseuds/lexus_grey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the prompt:<br/>Legend of The Seeker, Cara/Kahlan, Cara sees Kahlan in Mord'Sith Leather, biting, brothel, temptation, tongue, swagger, magic, strap-on, princess, heat, agiel, scars, sub!Cara/dom!Kahlan</p><p>There is much more to the Mord-Sith Cara than Kahlan first expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Are a Mord-Sith

Cara held up a hand and the dozen Mord-Sith flanking and following her came to an abrupt halt. "Who is this?" she asked, of a tall brunette with a boy and a girl slave, moving quickly away from a D'Haran prison.

"I don't know, Mistress Cara, I've never seen her before," the woman to her right answered, squinting at the figures in the distance.

Cara's eyes narrowed as an old man in dirty robes came out of the woods, pointing magical fingers at the Mord-Sith. As he let loose a spell, all dozen Mord-Sith at her heels, as well as herself, extended their hands, turning the Wizard's magic back on him.

Kahlan spun around, braid whipping Richard in the face as she did, to see Zedd knocked flat on his back. Eyes wide, she turned to see a squad of Mord-Sith approaching, and realized instantly what they thought they had just seen. "Richard, keep Dennee safe. I'll meet up with you as soon as I can," she whispered.

"What? No! You're not going with them!" Richard protested, eyes going from Kahlan to the Mord-Sith to Zedd, and back to Kahlan.

"Do as I say!" Kahlan hissed, her voice harsh and unyielding. "Take Dennee into the woods. Now! Take my horse!"

Richard hated it, but he ran with Kahlan's sister, helping her onto the horse and jumping on behind her, digging his heels into the beast's flanks, dust kicking up around its hooves as it sprang into a gallop.

Kahlan turned to Zedd, leaned down and grabbed him by the collar, shaking him awake. "Zedd!" she said urgently. "They think I'm Mord-Sith, I'm going to play it out. Go along."

He gave a groggy nod, and she hauled him to his feet, shoving him backward.

He pretended to use magic on her, she pretended to turn it back on him, and he made a great show of flinging himself backward into the air, having himself travel several hundred feet into the woods, and cushioning his own fall once he was out of sight of the Mord-Sith.

Kahlan prepared herself for the mighty bit of acting she was about to have to do, but the alternative was admitting she'd been impersonating a Mord-Sith and then having to fight all of them on her own, since Zedd and Richard were no use against them. She turned, an impassive mask shielding her face, and straightened to her full height. The only problem was... she knew how Mord-Sith treated outsiders, but had no idea how they treated their own when no outsiders were watching. Well... she would just have to learn fast, until an opportunity arose to sneak away.

The squad stopped in front of the stranger, and Cara stepped forward. "What are you doing this far from a temple?"

The easy, smooth tone of voice was a cover for something much darker, Kahlan could sense that without even trying. She narrowed her eyes, returning the sentiment in kind. "What are you?"

Cara backhanded the insolent woman across the cheek. "I do not answer to you."

Kahlan turned her head to the side to absorb the blow, then faced forward again and swiftly brought the back of her hand to the blonde's cheek in retaliation. "And I do not answer to you. Now that we've established the chain of command, I suggest we get moving."

They squared off, staring right into each others' eyes, for what seemed an interminable moment, and Cara gave a subtle nod to her troops. They marched forward, the two headstrong women at the front center of the group, and Cara spoke first. "What are you called?"

Kahlan raised an eyebrow, glancing at Cara sideways. "I am called Mistress Kahlan," she replied. She didn't bother to ask the blonde's name. She'd already figured out how Mord-Sith treated each other when no outsiders were watching. Like they had to watch their backs for dissension among the ranks from within. She decided that if she was to have any chance of sneaking away, she needed to establish herself as an Alpha from moment one. And an Alpha would be unconcerned with the names of others.

"Don't let your manners escape you. Ask my name," the blonde said without affect as they marched on a village.

Kahlan was suddenly gripped with fear that they might be on a raid, searching for new girls, but relaxed when the blonde took them toward a brothel instead of the village proper. "Your name is of no importance to me," she said, her tone clipped, pushing open the door to the brothel and striding inside like she owned it.

Cara's heart pounded in her chest, all the way up to her ears. No one should dare speak to her in that way if they desired to remain breathing. And yet, her reaction was puzzling. She watched the woman swagger into the brothel and command men away from a table with but a glance at their chairs.

Cara ascended the stairs first, with a nervous, giggling girl on her arm. A look quieted the wench, and Cara didn't wait for a room, instead took her roughly at the top of the stairs, enjoying her little gasps of pleasure and pain in equal measure.

Kahlan feigned disinterest, sitting in one chair with her feet up on another, crossed at the ankles. She examined her fingernails, keeping a sharp eye out for every Mord-Sith in the place to find a girl or a boy and go upstairs.

It seemed forever before the last one finally chose a handsome young man and began leading him up the stairs with a finger hooked under his shirt collar.

Exhaling with relief, she stood, and was just stepping out the side door when a voice drew her attention.

"Where are you going?"

The blonde. Stiffening, pulling righteous anger into her expression, she slowly turned and regarded the woman coolly. "Who do you think you are, little girl, questioning my decision for a breath of fresh air after such... strenuous activities?"

Cara's hand closed around her Agiel. "You did not partake in any... strenuous activities," she said, accusatory.

Think fast, Kahlan... She allowed a wicked smirk to tug at the corners of her mouth. "No, I did not," she admitted coyly. "Perhaps I'm interested in someone less... delicate."

Her hand relaxed on the Agiel, but didn't let go. "You wish to bed me," she said flatly, more a statement than a question, but still a question nonetheless.

"How presumtuous," Kahlan said with a malicious twinkle in her eyes.

"Presumtuous of you to think you can--"

"Silence," Kahlan interrupted smoothly, delivering another backhand to the blonde's tanned cheek. She knew she was being bold, but there was nothing to lose at this point, if the blonde had figured her out already. "Turn around."

Cara fought with herself over what to do. She had never been put in this position before. She could fight back, but the wetness between her legs advised her against it. However, she did not turn around.

"Turn around," Kahlan said again, one eyebrow lifting, head tilting to the side. "Unless you want to do this here?"

Do what, exactly, Cara wanted to know despite herself. Her training would not allow her to ask. She spun angrily, walking to the stairs, infuriated at the slow, even bootfalls behind her.

When they reached a private room, Kahlan followed the blonde inside and barred the door. "You have taken quite the liberty in speaking to me how you have dared," she said, stepping close and winding a fingertip around a lock of escaped yellow hair.

Cara didn't like to be confused. "I do not understand." Her anger had faded, replaced by indifference.

"You will," Kahlan promised with a dismissive aire, "and you will come to regret your insolence."

Cara began to wonder just who she was dealing with, here. The power the woman exuded was intriguing, and commanding, and consuming. Still, she snorted at the decree. "That is doubtful."

"You're intrigued. That can be dangerous for a Mord-Sith," Kahlan said quietly, her voice a smoky purr. "Kiss me."

Cara moved forward and made to grab the back of Kahlan's neck, but the brunette shoved her backwards, hard.

"No," Kahlan said authoritatively. "Come here and try again."

Again Cara lunged at her, fury in her eyes, intending to bruise her lips with a kiss, and again Kahlan pushed her away.

"Are you stupid?" Kahlan asked, advancing on her, stopping in front of the panting woman. "Do you not know how to kiss a superior?"

"I'm..." Cara's brow wrinkled in thought, pulse racing, mind trying to intellectualize the sudden feelings she was having. And on top of everything else, she hated to fail, no matter at what. "Allow me to try again."

"Are you sure you want that?" Kahlan asked, smirking. "If you fail a third time, I will be forced to inform Master Rahl that your training is incomplete."

Cara stiffened, her jaw tightening, words coming out through clenched teeth. "Just give the order."

Kahlan's eyes danced, her smirk still firmly in place. "Kiss me."

Cara slid her right hand beneath Kahlan's left, bringing it to her lips. "In service of Master Rahl," she whispered, pressing a kiss to the woman's knuckles, then carefully lowering their hands.

Kahlan spun her around sharply and jerked open the buckles of her neck guard, pushing it off and letting it fall to the floor with a light thud. "Turn around," she ordered.

Cara turned, tongue pressed to the back of her teeth.

Kahlan looked at her, studying her carefully under the pretense of curiosity. "You seem to dislike following my orders."

Cara wasn't sure what in Rahl's name she liked or disliked at that moment. So she remained silent, standing at attention. She received a backhand for her trouble. She barely flinched, chewing the inside of her cheek to keep from hurling insults. Kahlan's strength was impressive, and as much as she would like to deny it, Cara was dripping wet. She could respect strength. And she could respect someone taking a hand to her, because in doing so they risked their own lives, and Mord-Sith always respected those without fear of death. "How am I to answer an unasked question?"

Kahlan knew she should knock the woman out and escape, but the buried emotion struggling forth in hard blue eyes was captivating her. There was more to this woman than was easily discerned. "You are to infer the question that remains unasked."

"I do not have feeling toward following your orders."

"Remove your clothes."

The idea gave her neither pleasure nor discomfort, and she stripped fastidiously, standing naked before Kahlan, her chin slightly raised to indicate her lack of modesty.

Kahlan circled the naked woman, appraising her, appearing unaffected though on the inside her heart was racing. Without her armor, the blonde was soft and feminine... except for the hardness in her expression. "Are you going to give me trouble, little girl?" she asked as she came to a full circle.

"I cannot answer that with certainty," Cara replied. And then, standing taller, "my name is Mistress Cara. I am a favored of Master Rahl."

Kahlan ran a fingernail down Cara's cheek, lightly slapped her face. "And I have already told you my name, though you have not yet once employed the appellation." Something in her wanted to hear this Mord-Sith call her 'Mistress'. "Get on your hands and knees on the bed."

Cara hesitated, her stomach twisting at the order, at the thought of all the things the woman could do to her in that position... not all of them pleasant. For the first time since her training so long ago, she knew what it was to wonder what a Mistress would do. She backed up a step toward the bed, unsure eyes on Kahlan, and slowly backed herself onto it, on her knees. As she turned and lowered her hands to the bed, she glanced back at Kahlan several times for confirmation and reassurance that she was doing the right thing. And that her spirit would not be irrevocably harmed.

Kahlan almost gave up the ruse when Cara looked at her like that, so unsure but having to trust anyway. Being programmed to favor pride over safety. She felt bad for taking trust she didn't deserve. However, she would not betray that trust, whether she deserved it or not. She would, though, put the Mord-Sith through the paces. Grinning, she stepped forward, laying one hand on the small of Cara's back and spanking her ass with the other.

Cara's head whirled around, cheeks coloring with humiliation, eyes questioning. This treatment of one of Master Rahl's favored was intolerable. "Mistress Kahlan?" she asked, her voice gravelly but not quite angry. She found herself wanting another smack.

Kahlan was unprepared for the appellation to cause such a strong reaction in her, and she ground her teeth together to keep from moaning, hardened her eyes to keep her pupils from relaxing and dilating. She could do nothing to prevent the tightness in her stomach or the wetness now coating the seam of her leathers. "What?" she snapped.

Cara wasn't sure what to say. This entire encounter was very strange. She wanted to know what her role should be, exactly, but she could intuit that the other woman had no idea either. She was surprised by the sudden spark of desire to please.

"You call my attention, with nothing to say?" Kahlan asked sharply. "Put your head down." She hadn't thought it would be this easy to gain the Mord-Sith's submission. Now that she had it, she faltered. Did she really want to bed this woman, this... soldier of Darken Rahl?

As Cara obediently lowered her head, the answer came clear. Yes, she did.

"I have told you that you will regret your insolence."

When nothing happened, Cara dared to speak. "Am I to be spanked?" She could barely get the word out, the punishment so unbefitting of a Mord-Sith. So far below her ability to take pain. It was an insult. An insult that warmed her thighs.

The idea was absurd, Kahlan knew. Which made it all the more tempting. "Do you object?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, letting the fingernails of her left hand claw gently at Cara's back, enjoying the small shiver she roused.

"Of course I object," Cara replied tartly. "Such a thing is beneath a Mord-Sith. Especially one so high in Master Rahl's favor. If you feel the need to punish me, use your Agiel."

Well now there was an interesting dilemma. If Kahlan touched her Agiel, she would give herself away immediately. Not only would that pose imminent danger, but she also didn't want this to end. She gave Cara's left buttock a sharp slap, then the right. "Do you really think you're in a position to demand anything of me?" she asked, forcing her voice cold.

Cara fought the humiliating wave of arousal, equally at the childish punishment and at Kahlan's cold voice. "I am Master Rahl's favored," she said weakly, her resolve fading in the wake of this woman's uncanny ability to ignite foreign desires.

Kahlan smirked. "Yes, little girl, you've made that quite apparent."

Cara would have done anything to hear approval in that haunting voice. She suddenly needed it like she needed nothing else. "I apologize, Mistress Kahlan," she choked out.

Kahlan spanked her once more, amusement dancing in her voice. "Then apologize."

Oh, but she was going to be held to high standards this night. "I am sorry, Mistress Kahlan."

"You would prefer an Agiel to a spanking," Kahlan said smoothly after a few moments of silence.

"Any Mord-Sith would," Cara informed her.

"Very well. Retrieve your Agiel."

"Mine?"

Kahlan knew that a Mord-Sith would not take kindly to questioning of her orders, so she forced herself to react even though the question didn't bother her. She jerked Cara up onto her knees by her braid and then pulled fiercely, tossing the woman to the floor. "Retrieve your Agiel!"

The thrill of danger raced through her, and Cara scrambled to comply, searching out her discarded leathers and drawing her Agiel from the belt beneath them. She had not felt this exhilarated in a very long time.

Kahlan couldn't touch her while she held it. "Stand up."

Cara stood at attention.

"I will tap a part of my body, and that is where you will hold the Agiel."

Cara could not believe she was to be made to punish herself with her own Agiel. Her breath came in labored pants, a throbbing pulse between her legs.

Kahlan tapped the inside of her left forearm.

Cara laid the Agiel to the mirror part of her own body, jaw tightening as she withstood the blossoming pain that shot up her arm. When Kahlan removed her fingertip, Cara removed the Agiel. Welts danced along her pale white skin. The next place Kahlan had her hold it was to her left shoulder. Her muscles rippled as she endured it, using them to absorb some of the shock to allow her to keep quiet.

Kahlan tapped the underside of her right breast, and watched as spidery webs of dark red snaked from the point of impact, thinning the further out they spread. Cara's nipples were rock-hard. She noticed sweat had broken out across the blonde's forehead and chest.

Cara's eye twitched as Kahlan slid a hand between her legs and tapped her finger there. She didn't hesitate, but she did gather courage during the Agiel's journey downward. The first touch to her wet, swollen folds almost brought her to her knees. The longer Kahlan had her hold it there, the harder it was to stay standing, but she managed it, devastated when she couldn't hold in a strangled shout of pain.

Kahlan was shaking with the power of her need, and removed her hand a few heartbeats after Cara's cry reached her ears. "Drop your Agiel."

Cara dropped it, gasping with relief, traitorous tears streaming unbidden down her cheeks.

Kahlan moved to her, kissed her, more fiercely and possessively than she had ever kissed anyone. "You have done well," she announced, her voice hoarse.

"I have pleased you, Mistress Kahlan?" Cara rasped, still finding it hard to draw breath.

Kahlan hesitated a moment, just to make her wonder, and then wrapped a hand around the base of her braid. "Yes."

"Thank you, Mistress Kahlan, for allowing me a punishment fitting of a Mord-Sith."

Kahlan nodded her acknowledgement of the thanks. "Would you like me to fuck you?" she asked bluntly.

"Yes," Cara moaned without hesitation, her eyelids fluttering. She had never ached so badly to be filled in her life.

"How desperately do you want it?"

"Very, Mistress Kahlan."

"If I were to send you for a harness, and a band of thieves descended upon the tavern, your girls fighting them, would you still be able to come straight back here?"

"Yes," Cara whispered. "Without question."

"Very well. Fetch me a harness, little girl. And something to put in it. You have five minutes."

Unmindful of her nakedness, Cara left the room, knowing exactly where to find the requested items. She was back in just under five minutes, and barred the door behind her.

"Were there thieves?" Kahlan asked, hiding a smirk beneath a coy expression.

"No," Cara said, head tilted to the side.

"Put those on the bed and undress me. Properly, as befits a woman of my stature."

Cara obeyed, fingers sure and swift, yet reverent, as she undressed Kahlan. She folded each piece of leather as it was removed, and laid them all in a neat pile on the single table at one side of the room.

Kahlan was impressed... despite the situation she was in, Cara had not lost one ounce of her confident swagger. The way she moved was intoxicating... as if the very air belonged to her and should thank her for passing through it. And yet, when she had finished and come to stand in front of Kahlan, the woman looked as if she were grateful to be allowed to stand before her. "Put it on me," she commanded simply, allowing no more thoughts of a deeper nature for the moment.

Cara was only too eager to comply, and expertly strapped Kahlan into the harness, positioning the phallus securely, salivating when her lips accidentally brushed the tip. She had never been a fan of using her mouth, though she had always required her pets to do so for her. She second-guessed herself now that she was so close to Kahlan's arousal. And even though the phallus was not a part of her, Cara found herself wanting to service it. She was about to shake her strange thoughts away when a hand on the back of her head guided her lips to the shaft, and she opened her mouth to take it in. After a fleeting thought that she might have misunderstood, she flicked her eyes up to check. The look of bliss on Kahlan's face was reassuring.

"Take your hair down," Kahlan demanded out of nowhere, having the sudden, pressing urge to wind her fingers in it.

Cara's hands went behind her, undoing the tie at the bottom, then her fingers quickly separated the long, straight plait and the one wound around the top of it. She loosed the last tie and her hair tumbled free, long and soft and kinked from the braids.

"I did not tell you to abandon your other duties," Kahlan said darkly, Cara having stopped moving her mouth.

Eyes slightly wide, Cara worked harder at the leather cock, her gag reflex triggered when Kahlan grabbed handfuls of her hair and held her in place as she thrust her hips hard. Her eyes widened further in apology for an act so unbecoming of a Mord-Sith.

By Cara's reaction, Kahlan could tell that gagging on a cock was unacceptable. She pulled the girl's head back, leaning down until their faces were less than an inch apart, putting steel into her glare. "Are you not used to a cock at your throat, little girl?" she asked, her voice low and dangerous. "Does Master Rahl treat you like a princess? Are you too high on a throne to dirty your mouth with the rest of your sisters?"

Cara didn't know what to say to that. No one spoke to her that way. She had no parameters from which to pull a response. All she felt was shame. She hated to fail. She accepted the slap graciously, bowing her head when it was over.

"Do you have anything to say?" Kahlan asked curiously, intrigued at the Mord-Sith's behavior.

"Only that I did not mean to shame you, Mistress Kahlan, and if given another chance, I will perform admirably."

"I don't want an admirable performance," Kahlan scolded her. "I want heat. I want passion. I want your eyes to water and burn while you choke on my cock, trying to take it all in. I want heat. I know you have it. Where is it?"

Cara's cheeks flushed at the scolding, and at Kahlan's demands, she gripped the base of the phallus and jerked her hand along the shaft, guiding it back to her mouth. She had heat. She slid her hands around to Kahlan's ass and squeezed, pulling her forward, opening her mouth to accept what she wore. She gagged again, but didn't stop this time, digging her fingernails into Kahlan's ass cheeks as she slid her mouth back and forth until her eyes did water and burn. She moaned like a common tavern wench, trying to fit as much of Kahlan's cock into her mouth as she could, until a hand fisted in the top of her hair and pulled her off. She looked up to see Kahlan's eyes smoldering, and she knew she had brought her heat.

"Over the bed, Princess," Kahlan breathed, turning Cara with the hand in her hair and giving her a hard, but playful shove forward.

Cara bent over the bed and gripped the sheets, spreading her legs in invitation, hoping Kahlan wouldn't make her wait.

Kahlan had no intention of making either of them wait. She stepped up behind Cara and grabbed her thighs, forcing them further apart, angling her hips just right and slamming into the Mord-Sith's waiting cunt.

Cara gasped, back arching, fists clenching tighter as she was filled, so suddenly and harshly without warning. And so well. She grunted with the force of it, eagerly taking it all.

"Your cunt can take more than your mouth," Kahlan observed, leaning forward, pressing her chest to Cara's back as she worked her hips with strength and fervor, pushing in harder each time. She didn't like the way the words sounded, but she was in the role of Mord-Sith, and wanted to be convincing.

"It's been used more," Cara replied wryly, bucking into the thrusts. A particularly brutal one sent the wind from her lungs, and she had to bow to the skill. "You use it well," she breathed.

"Better than your last conquest?" Kahlan liked the stroke to her ego.

"Yes," Cara ground out between moans. "Most are afraid to be forceful with a Mord-Sith, and I have never before bedded a Sister of the Agiel."

"Why not?"

"None have approached."

"I find it hard to believe you don't just take what you want, whether it's offered or not. Being in Master Rahl's favor and all."

"I take what I want from outsiders. I was trained with my sisters. I do not force anything upon them."

"Except your leadership."

Cara groaned as a hand found the throbbing nerve center between her legs. "Master Rahl has appointed me to the position," she growled.

"Don't growl at me if you want to come," Kahlan warned.

"Sorry," Cara gasped as the hand disappeared from her clitoris. "No, please!" She rocked her hips desperately.

Kahlan pulled Cara's earlobe between her teeth, bit down gently, and released. "I'm sorry, Mistress Kahlan, please let me come," she breathed in the girl's ear.

Cara nearly came just at that. Nothing had ever sounded so erotic. "I'm sorry, Mistress Kahlan," she repeated, flexing her fingers against the sheets, curling them again. "Please let me come."

"I'll think about it," Kahlan whispered. "If you're good. Will you be good? Tell me you'll be good."

Cara found the request odd. Be good? For how long? And what was good, exactly? "How?" she finally asked in a rush of breath.

Kahlan found the response heartbreaking. "Just tell me," she said, hand finding Cara's clitoris again.

It was hard to profess something she was unclear about, but Kahlan was distracting her and demanding it, and she wanted to please her and she wanted to come. "I'll be good," she gasped, moaning as Kahlan's free hand came down hard on her ass.

Kahlan kissed the back of her neck, kept thrusting and rubbed with her fingers, until the Mord-Sith gave an unearthly howl and shuddered violently beneath her. She pressed her hips all the way forward and held, riding out the storm with the now whimpering Mord-Sith, until the girl had calmed and sank bonelessly into the mattress. She slowly pulled out, running her palms up and down Cara's back to ground her.

After a minute she backed away, and gave Cara another few minutes to collect herself, before speaking. "Come down to your knees and clean me off. If there is a drop of come left when you're done, I will whip you."

Cara shivered and slid to her knees on the floor, turning and shuffling the few paces to Kahlan. She opened her mouth to take in the glistening cock, but Kahlan shook her head.

"No. You may use only your tongue. Nothing else."

Cara nodded once, extended her tongue, and began to clean. She was not in the mood to be whipped. She made sure that any shine on the phallus was from her mouth. When she was finished, she went over the entire length again, to be certain, then sat back on her heels and looked up at Kahlan. The woman was strikingly beautiful, she finally allowed herself to notice.

Kahlan removed the harness and inspected the smooth piece of leather, finding it to her satisfaction. "Very well. You may get in bed."

Cara gave a little nod and climbed into bed, holding back the top sheet for Mistress Kahlan.

Kahlan set the harness on the table and joined the blonde in bed. 

"Where did you get those scars?" Cara asked.

Kahlan's breath caught. "What scars?" she asked harshly.

"On your lower back."

"How did you see them?"

"You faced away to put the harness on the table." She was confused at Kahlan's anger. "You do not wish to tell me."

"No, I do not wish to tell you," Kahlan snapped. She had gotten the scars from a gar, fighting alongside the Seeker and the Wizard. She could hardly tell that to a Mord-Sith who thought she was one of them. And for some reason, not being able to tell Cara about the scars made her angry.

"I have displeased you." There was regret in Cara's voice.

"No," Kahlan said quickly. She turned her head, catching Cara watching her. She swallowed, giving herself time to think, and then told a half truth. "They're from a gar."

Cara's eyes narrowed. "Has it been killed?"

"Yes."

"Good." She leaned forward, as if to kiss Kahlan, then drew back. "Were it not dead, I would take a hunting party and bring you its head."

Kahlan tried not to show her surprise, though it took considerable effort. She had always thought Mord-Sith to be emotionless, driven, made for one thing and one thing only. But Cara was more complex. She regretted that when Cara was asleep, she would have to slip out of the brothel and find her way to Richard, Dennee and Zedd. She was not prepared for what left the Mord-Sith's mouth a few moments later.

Cara stared at the ceiling, hands folded over her stomach, thinking. Tonight had been very strange indeed. Very strange, and very fulfilling. "I wish you to be my mate."

A gasp left her lips. Nothing in this world could have prepared her for that. The realization from moments earlier hit her harder now. Mord-Sith were not all one-dimensional. There was more to a Mord-Sith than met the eye, and she did not want to break this one's fragile heart. "I cannot," she breathed, tears welling in her eyes. "I must travel in the morning."

Cara shrugged. "I will go with you. Which temple are you traveling to?"

Tears spilled down Kahlan's cheeks. She had to tell the truth, she could not reject this woman, her heart would not allow it. "No temple," she whispered. "I have something to tell you, and you will hate me for it."

Cara simply frowned, and waited.

"I am not a Mord-Sith."

That got a derisive snort. "Of course you are."

"No," Kahlan shook her head. "I am not." She reached up to untie the bands around the ends of both her braids, and unraveled them. She removed the last tie and let her hair down, as Cara had done before. "I am a Confessor."

"You are not a Confessor," Cara said. "You are a Mord-Sith."

Kahlan's tears fell harder. Cara was making this even more difficult than it already was. "I am a Confessor. I am the Mother Confessor; the Seeker's Confessor."

Cara set her jaw. "Fine. You may be a Confessor, but you are also a Mord-Sith."

"But I'm not!" Kahlan shouted, desperate to make Cara understand. "I was pretending, to gain access to the D'Haran prison and free my sister."

Cara rolled over, pushed onto her hands and knees astride Kahlan's body. Stared into her eyes. "You are a better Mord-Sith than any I have ever met," she said resolutely. "Pretense or not, Confessor or not, you have won my loyalty and affection, and I wish you to be my mate." Now she dared to kiss Kahlan. "I respect strength, and you have it. I will travel with you, I will be your Mord-Sith. I will protect those you wish to be protected."

Kahlan cried. "We are on opposite sides of the coming war. I cannot ask you to betray your beliefs."

"You did not. Nor do you know what my beliefs are."

"I cannot ask you to--"

"Say you do not want me."

"What?"

"Say you do not want me," Cara repeated. "I will accept it."

"I--" Kahlan started to say it, but she had lied enough for one day. "I always thought I knew what a Mord-Sith was. I now know I had no idea."

"We are what you think you know. We are also more."

"I want you," Kahlan finally said, shaking lightly with fear. "Creator help me, but I want you. I want you to travel with me, to be my Mord-Sith."

Cara's lips twitched into a half smirk. "I have been your Mord-Sith since I followed your first order. I sensed the strength in you... It makes sense now, why you had me punish myself with my Agiel. You cannot hold one."

"And if you step out of line, I will have you repeat the punishment," Kahlan said sternly.

"If I ever displease you, Mistress Kahlan, I will gladly accept any punishment you wish to impart upon me."

Kahlan considered everything for a time, and then smiled. "Lie on your back. I wish to mark you."

Cara grudgingly gave up her position on all fours above Kahlan, and rolled to her back, once again looking up at the ceiling. "You will find iron rods in a basket beside the fire," she said.

"What? No," Kahlan shook her head, rolling onto her side, dropping her mouth to Cara's shoulder and giving it a soft kiss, then a harder, sucking kiss, then a slow, firm bite. She enjoyed the sound Cara made at the bite. She moved closer to the Mord-Sith's neck, sinking her teeth into the tender flesh, and bit her way to the front of Cara's throat, marking her there as well.

Cara squirmed and sighed and moaned softly as Kahlan left a trail of glaring red bite marks across her collarbone, breasts, hips and thighs. Each bite pulsed with a mild pain just below her skin, and she reveled in the feeling. The physical pulse, the sexual thrill, and the peace of mind that comes with knowing you belong somewhere.

\--

In the morning, the rest of the Mord-Sith had already cleared out, which made it easy for Kahlan and Cara to head west, toward Richard, instead of south, toward the nearest Mord-Sith temple. No one paid any heed. If they thought it odd for a tall, mean-looking Mord-Sith to smile and pull her scowling companion along by the hand, they chose not to say anything about it.


End file.
